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We compared 65 anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-negative myasthenia gravis (MG) patients, including 32 anti-muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK)-positive (49%) and 33 anti-MuSK-negative (seronegative) (51%) patients, with 161 anti-AChR-positive MG patients. The anti-MuSK-positive group had a higher frequency of bulbar involvement and respiratory crises. The seronegative group was in between the anti-MuSK positive and the anti-AChR positive groups, being closer to the latter, with regard to the severity of the disease. At the end of follow-up, the outcome of the anti-MuSK-positive patients was not different from that of the anti-AChR-positive patients, although their maintenance corticosteroid dose was higher. The seronegative patients had better outcome than the other two groups.

Original publication

DOI

10.1212/01.wnl.0000254620.45529.97

Type

Journal article

Journal

Neurology

Publication Date

20/02/2007

Volume

68

Pages

609 - 611

Keywords

Adrenal Cortex Hormones, Adult, Autoantibodies, Biomarkers, Brain Stem, Causality, Disease Progression, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Myasthenia Gravis, Neuromuscular Junction, Predictive Value of Tests, Prevalence, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Receptors, Cholinergic, Respiratory Insufficiency, Serologic Tests, Treatment Outcome